Holland Isabel, DeVille Nicole V, Browning Matthew H E M, Buehler Ryan M, Hart Jaime E, Hipp J Aaron, Mitchell Richard, Rakow Donald A, Schiff Jessica E, White Mathew P, Yin Jie, James Peter
Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 13;18(8):4092. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084092.
While many studies suggest evidence for the health benefits of nature, there is currently no standardized method to measure time spent in nature or nature contact, nor agreement on how best to define nature contact in research. The purpose of this review is to summarize how nature contact has been measured in recent health research and provide insight into current metrics of exposure to nature at individual and population scales. The most common methods include surrounding greenness, questionnaires, and global positioning systems (GPS) tracking. Several national-level surveys exist, though these are limited by their cross-sectional design, often measuring only a single component of time spent in nature, and poor links to measures of health. In future research, exposure assessment combining the quantifying (e.g., time spent in nature and frequency of visits to nature) and qualifying (e.g., greenness by the normalized difference of vegetation index (NDVI) and ratings on perception by individuals) aspects of current methods and leveraging innovative methods (e.g., experience sampling methods, ecological momentary assessment) will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the health effects of nature exposure and inform health policy and urban planning.
虽然许多研究表明自然环境对健康有益，但目前尚无标准化方法来衡量在自然环境中度过的时间或与自然的接触情况，在研究中如何最好地定义与自然的接触也未达成共识。本综述的目的是总结近期健康研究中衡量与自然接触的方法，并深入了解个体和人群层面接触自然的当前指标。最常见的方法包括周边绿化情况、问卷调查和全球定位系统（GPS）跟踪。有几项国家级调查，但这些调查受限于其横断面设计，通常只测量在自然环境中度过时间的一个单一组成部分，且与健康指标的联系薄弱。在未来研究中，结合当前方法的量化（如在自然环境中度过的时间和前往自然环境的频率）和定性（如通过植被指数归一化差异（NDVI）衡量的绿化情况以及个体的感知评分）方面并利用创新方法（如经验抽样方法、生态瞬时评估）的暴露评估，将更全面地了解接触自然对健康的影响，并为健康政策和城市规划提供参考。
